


Five times Steve Rogers caught Natasha Romanov off guard and the one time she got her revenge.

by Katefkndoes



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, I have feels, I'm Sorry, Possible spoilers for Civil War, romanogers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-06 01:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6732031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katefkndoes/pseuds/Katefkndoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some scenes covering all the ways Steve Rogers broke Natasha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five times Steve Rogers caught Natasha Romanov off guard and the one time she got her revenge.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in around an hour. And I'm VERY rusty, so it's not my best work. But I had all sorts of opinions after seeing Civil War and I needed an outlet.

 

**1.**

Natasha caught up with Sam and Steve just outside of San Francisco in a long stay hotel, just off the highway.  As it turned out, when superheroes go to ground, they really go to ground, and she had been three steps behind them for the best part of a month.  It was _far_ from her best investigative work, but considering she was working with burner phones and public wifi, and was chasing two highly trained soldiers, she wasn’t going to be too hard on herself. 

She entered their shared room to find Sam cooking eggs on the small stove and Steve sat with his back to her at the small breakfast bar, chewing on a pencil and looking - thoughtfully, she assumed - at his notebook.  She’d expected _some_ sort of reaction to her sudden appearance, but Sam merely grinned at her and pulled a third plate from the cupboard.  Steve, turned to look at her, lips curving over the pencil in a small smile.  She found herself focusing on the way the end of the pencil rested on his full bottom lip and she felt an odd surge in her pulse.

“You’re slipping, Romanov.”  He said, pulling the pencil from his lips.

“I guess you paid more attention than I thought.”  She replied with ease, at which Steve laughed slightly, before moving across the room to draw her into a much needed embrace.

 

**2.**

Bakersfield was hardly the most glamorous stop off, but Steve was incredibly visible and while the Secretary of State hadn’t issued an arrest warrant on them, that didn’t mean that they weren’t being hunted.  The most secure prison in the world hadn’t been a match for Steve Rogers, and General Ross didn’t need to be all that PR savvy to realize that making that fact public wasn’t going to keep him in office.

Sam had finally managed to convinced Steve to take a break once Natasha had confirmed that they were in no immediate danger, and they had spent the day picking up fresh supplies, clothes, and taken the time to savor a good meal.  There had been too few days spent with friends in Natasha’s life, and she had enjoyed it more than she could say.

As the sun set, a cool breeze swelled across the hotel pool, sending all the residents out of the water and into their rooms.  It was too good of an opportunity to miss, and they picked up some swimwear from the hotel mini-mart and spent a few minutes splashing around in the pool before Sam and Natasha headed towards the oddly clean looking hot tub.

“For someone who spent seventy years frozen, he sure as hell doesn’t seem bothered by the cold.”  Sam muttered, as he maxed out the heat.  Natasha looked over, to see Steve powering through the water at a speed that Michael Phelps would have killed for.  And, if the last two years had taught her anything, it was that she was allowed to _feel_ , and she certainly felt things for the way his shoulders moved as his arms parted the water, but that was okay.  But the thing about lustful feelings was that they were largely biological urges reduced to electrical impulses.  Of course she was attracted to that display of raw power - her body wanted to procreate with the most successful partner - and her mind converted that into some sort of undefined emotion.

She could rationalize that twist in her stomach.  She really could.  It didn’t worry her at all that Steve seemed somehow more attractive when he finally joined them in the hot tub.  Somehow, he seemed even more attractive with his arms hooked over the side of the tub as the bubble danced across his newly grown out chest hair.  (Natasha had seen the Project Rebirth photos, and she knew that it wasn’t always there.  Dimly, she wondered whether they had shaved his chest for the procedure or whether it was a choice).  She could understand finding that attractive, chest her was a sign of virility and it was one her body obviously appreciated it.   However, that didn’t explain why she noticed the way the water had darkened his blond hair, and how the dark stubble at his jaw highlighted the blueness of his eyes.

Abruptly, he let out a groan of pleasure and tilted his head back closed his eyes and opened his mouth, sinking deeper into the water.  She swallowed at the corded sinew of his neck.

And Sam, the absolute rat bastard, merely shot her a knowing look.

 

**3.**

Hooters.  A place where men were manipulated by women and didn’t even realise.  It was the site of a real power play and Natasha was all too familiar with the concept.  Give the man a little of what he wanted to get what you wanted - in the case of a Hooters, the men got a cheap thrill and the woman got better tips.  Sam would be gutted that he missed out on the chance to flirt with their waitress, Natasha smiled at the image.  While he wasn’t the lecherous type, it would have been interesting to see whether he could be manipulated by the server.

Steve, however, was a different story altogether.  Even in this place marketed as a totem to masochistic desires, Steve remained courteous.  (Natasha was pretty sure that Lisa’s - the blonde haired waitress - panties actually caught fire when he looked her dead in the eye, as though he handed noticed the way her ample breasts spilled out of the top of her too-small shirt).  She knew him to be stumbling and awkward when it came to women, but he spoke to Lisa with just the barest hint of flirtation mixed with respect - maybe Sam had been giving him some tips?

Still, it definitely didn’t felt any burgeoning _feelings_ she might have had.  The waitress left and Steve looked at her for a few moments. 

“Have you heard from Banner lately?”  The comment came completely from left-field and took her off-guard.  For a second her guard fell as she struggled to find a suitable mask.  Most people wouldn’t have noticed but Steve wasn’t most people, and his face softened somewhat.  “I’m sorry, that was cruel.”

“No, I,” she started, her mask firmly restored, but she stopped herself.  This was Steve she was talking to.  “I think we both know that was never going to work.”  She said, rather pragmatically, she thought.

“I think that if two people care for each other, then there’s always a chance.”  He replied, and she nodded once in agreement.  They slipped into a slightly awkward silence, and she found herself staring out of the window, looking for some sort of distraction.  

Thankfully, the kitchen wasn’t backed up and her cheese sticks arrived promptly.  They were hot, fresh and the mozzarella stretched as she bit into one of them.  Natasha had a soft spot for cheese sticks, and fuck anyone who judged her for it.  She worked hard to maintain her body at peak fighting condition, and unlike Steve, whose metabolism was the thing of legends, that meant that she had to keep a strict watch on her calorie intake.  So when did did allow herself to cheat, she liked to savor it - and her heart belonged to the good old mozzarella stick.

So, the very last thing she needed to see was Steve’s pink tongue lap the tomato sauce off the end of his own cheese sticks.  Even after the pencil incident, she hadn’t figured that she had an oral fixation, but apparently that was just one more thing that she needed to learn about herself.  She stared for a full minute before she snapped out of it.

“Welcome back,” Steve said softly, and thankfully he was plowing his way through a plate of chips, instead of destroying her brain with his sneaky hotness.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about Bruce.”  She said, for good measure.  And they drifted into a comfortable silence.

  


**4.**

Natasha woke up with a crick in her neck, and a numb left ass cheek.  As it turned out, being super flexible didn’t translate to a good car sleep.  They - Steve - had been driving for the best part of the previous four days because Sharon had fed them some concerning information regarding a potential arms deal out in Nebraska, and Steve, being Steve, couldn’t leave well enough alone.  As it happened the entire thing had been a complete bust - unless you counted scaring the shit out of a bunch of college kids who thought it would be fun to prank their classmates.

Steve had been driving most of the night, though he showed no signs of fatigue, and Natasha took a moment to observe him out of the corner of her eye before he realized that she was awake.  He wheeled the car around a mountain road as though he was playing some sort of video game and not playing chicken with the edge of the road.  She hadn’t appreciated just how insane some of the roads were, but Steve seemed completely unfazed, taking hairpin curves with ease twenty miles above the speed limit.  She should have been concerned that he would lose control, but instead she found the experience oddly soothing - Captain America was a speed junkie, it was nice to find a flaw.

“Hey, you’re awake.”  He said softly, his voice barely audible above the hum of the engine.  “Sorry,” he said slowing slightly, and she smiled to herself, “this is much more fun in a stick shift.”  He said as though that was an explanation.  “I promise I’m not usually this much of a speed demon.  But it’s late - or early - and this keeps me alert.”  He turned to offer her a reassuring smile. 

“Just keep your eyes on the road.”  She replied.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.”  He promised, and she sighed.  That was precisely the problem, wasn’t it?

  
  
**5.**   


The government had a short memory, it seemed.  One moment they were on the wanted list, and the next they were Earth’s last hope to survive.  They could have - should have, really - refused to take up that mantel.  But if they were all sensible they would never have become Avengers in the first place, so when Stark finally made the call they answered.

One month later, and they were in Washington to receive medals from the President himself.  And wasn’t that just peachy.  Ten months spent in hiding, helping where they could, on the run from the authorities.  All it took was another alien invasion to see them become heroes again.  She was long past bitterness - her life didn’t allow it - but she was just so tired.

They were being put up in the Willard hotel, right opposite the White House and Sam had taken the chance to go for his once familiar run around the mall.  She assumed that Steve had joined him, but when she went down to the reception to enquire about the best local eateries, she discovered her mistake.  Steve was sat in the darkened bar, his shoulders hunched as he played piano - Chopin, she thought.  Just when she thought she knew him, he pulled something like that out of the nowhere.

“Eidetic memory,” he said without any halt in the song.  “It makes things like this easy.”

“I feel like I’m in Pretty Woman.”  She said, and to her great satisfaction his hands faltered.

“You’d look great in that red dress.”  He replied, turning to face her.

“But where would I put my guns?”  She said sweetly, joining him at the piano.  “May I?”  She asked, and he moved over enough to allow her to sit down.  Her fingers danced lightly over the keys, relearning their position, before she started playing one of the songs she had learned back when she was Russian.

“Always full of surprises.”  He said, lowly in her ear, as he joined her.  

“I like to keep you on your toes, Rogers.”  He laughed slightly and she felt the air rush past her shoulders, and felt her stomach do a little flip.  

For months she had struggled to put a label on what they had.  They gravitated towards each other, but so much of their relationship still remained undefined.  He should have responded to her.  She should have added something further.  But instead they just continued to play in silence.

  
  
**+1**

Bruce’s return was less painful that she expected.  She expected to feel guilty, she had used him as a crutch to aid her through the emotional turbulence which had followed the fall of SHIELD but, one conversation with him only served to show her that he was just as guilty of transference.  It was refreshing to take to him honestly, no childish flirting and reading between the lines.  A straight up dissection of their feelings, from which they both walked away from happy.

Natasha found a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and she finally understood what she had been trying to deny for so long.  Back when they had been partnered she had focused her attentions on finding Steve _someone_ to love.  She had been so focused on it that she’d completely failed to realize she was falling for him until it was too late.  He didn’t deserve the burden of her feelings on top of the knowledge of what had been done to Bucky.  And so she had transferred her affections onto someone else.

Now, however, the dust had settled, she could see how stupid she’d really been.

She found him sat on the sand under the pier, watching the waves moving slowly up the beach as the sun set across the ocean.  It was a picture perfect scene.  She took one breath, trying to calm her nerves before she approached him.

 "You gonna stand there all day or are you gonna sit down." He sounded resigned, as though he expected bad news, although perhaps that was just her being hopeful.  Wordlessly, she joined him on the ground, digging her feet into the sand.  “Things all settled with Bruce?”  He said after a moment.

“I think so.  It was good to get things out in the open.”

“That’s ironic,” he said, “coming from you.”  

“I’m an enigma.”  She said slowly, and he turned to smile at her.

“You have no idea.  I, uh, you remind me of Peggy.”  High praise coming from him.  “She was smart and funny, and so damn strong.  I don’t think she knew how strong.  And beautiful, so beautiful.  And she wanted me.  I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.”  His voice was filled with sadness.  “And I thought… I guess I thought this would be different.”

“I…” he cut her off.

“You don’t owe me an apology.”  He reassured, but didn’t look at her.  “You can’t help who you fall in love with… and Bruce - Bruce is a great guy.”  She almost laughed.  Almost.

“You’re an idiot.”  She said abruptly, and he turned to look at her.  “ _I’m_ an idiot.  We’re _both_ idiots.”  And she actually did laugh at that.  “Three years dancing around the issue, and we’re both as stupid as each other.”  He frowned, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.  “Bruce is great,” she acknowledged.  “But we could never work - not when we are in love with other people.”  She looked down at her hands.  She had made a habit of fighting men twice her size, and had stared aliens straight in the face, but she couldn’t look at him in that moment.  

“Nat…” his voice was so strained that she barely recognized it.  Finally she looked up at him, and nodded in answer to his silent question.  

His smile was breathtaking.

“About damn time.”  Their lips had barely met before they were rudely interrupted.

“Oh come on, man.”  Steve turned to face Sam.  “Couldn’t you just let me have this one.  Just this one.”  He said in a frustrated tone, but a wide smile on his face.

“What?  I’ve been watching you two moon over each other for months.  At this point I’m emotionally invested.”  Sam laughed, Natasha bit back her smile and leveled him with an arched eyebrow.  “But, I can see when I’m not welcome, so I’ll just go… over there.”  He pointed to a nondescript location across the beach.  “And you two can just…” he made an odd motion with his hands that she assumed was meant to resemble kissing and scurried off up the beach.

“Nat, I…” he started, but they had already wasted so much time.

“Shut up and kiss me.”  She said with a small smile.

“That an order?”  He said with a grin.

“You’re damn right it is.”  She replied, and leaned in to kiss him again.


End file.
